Children of Apollo
by Winged Enchantress
Summary: A collection of short stories about Apollo, his lovers, his children and how they came to be.
1. Say Love, Too

Children of Apollo

A collection of short stories about Apollo, his lovers, and his children

_Say Love, Too_

She was young, she was talented, she was beautiful, and she became one of his favorites despite the fact that they only saw each other thrice in her lifetime. He found her at a nightclub, which isn't all that unusual place for him to stumble upon lovely young ladies. Her voice had lured him in off the street. It was a small, beat-nick, coffee shop of a place with an open mike night and she was singing her heart out. Every body in the room swooned and curved to the lifts and dives of her voice as it spiraled through the club on gentle melodies.

An encore was demanded and she sang again and again, her breath and her body swaying with her music, wrapping her in it. Her smile was so gentle and her auburn summer dress hugged her slender waist and Apollo watched her stomach lift as her diaphragm expanded with each, gentle, music-carrying breath. Her had heard better, in his day, but it had been a recognizable amount of time since Apollo had seen such a singer who produced such sound with such passion and purity. And Apollo did have a weak spot for passion and purity.

They took a break. Apollo had barely noticed that there had been a guitarist accompanying his singer until the gangly youth stood up to get himself a drink. While two jazz musicians played in their place, Apollo convinced the gangly youth to sit out the girl's next performance and allow him to take his place. The boy quickly downed a bit too much alcohol and could not be found by the time Apollo had perused the club manager to ask the young lady to perform once more.

Apollo was on the stage by the time she took it and when she gave him a confused glance, he only smiled back, guitar in hand. He started to pick out a delicate tune and the girl started to sway. Apollo, despite his boyish attitude, knew music and knew it better than any other that ever existed. The young woman became a conduit for his musically ability and words and rhythm flowed from her like water, and he the spring as they enraptured their audience, song after song, until beads of sweat began to line her forehead and her throat began to go dry.

Apollo left the stage. Alas, she was still only a human mortal.

Happily, however, that was not their last encounter. They still had two more to go. It was only later that night that Apollo, dressed as the pretty-boy heart-breaker that he was, encountered her in a dance club with a few of her friends.

She had not been dancing much but was really more socializing with her companions, one being the gangly youth from before looking rather sea-sick in the corner with, who must've been, his date.

Apollo did not go straight for her. Next to Dionysis, Apollo was the life of parties for they always involved his particular expertise, that is, anything having to do with the performing arts - in this case mainly music and dance and a certain degree of charisma and diplomacy. He didn't need to use much of his skill to work the floor, but, being Apollo, he used much more than he needed to until finally she spotted him.

Apollo was enjoying the partnership of several fine ladies when his singer got close enough to acknowledge. His current partners were easy catches, lamb to his slaughter. He enjoyed easy catches, often, and he still had time to indulge in his easier prey if his current mission went array. He wasn't always sure why he bothered pursuing women when so many would throw themselves at his feet once they were drunk and he started dancing, but every once in a while in his immortality, he liked a challenge. There always seemed to be such large gaps between his more meaningful lovers.

She had moved closer with her dancing companions, but she still left Apollo to make a move, which he did and most expertly. He may have the personality of a California surfer stereotype, but he knew how to persuade a dance floor to work with him.

She had her hands pressed against her hips and his eyes followed them as they swayed with her. She smirked at him and took a chance. "You want this?" She asked.

He danced around her, a neat little trick, inspecting her from head to gladiator sandaled foot. "I'm considering it."

She grinned at him, lusciously, and he wiped the sweat that was running down the side of her face as he pulled her closer.

"You're going to have to do better than that if you want to win me over," she hummed as she spun from him, the heat and moisture making her little dress cling tighter.

"I thought I was doing pretty good," the god replied as he caught her hand and twirled her back into him. The rhythm of the base was intoxicating, deep and pulsing. Apollo had chosen it, himself.

"Yes," she breathed when she could, sweeping back her once pin straight chocolate hair that was starting to curl again the heat. "But I'm real hard to win over."

"Right," he hummed back as he flicked his feet, another little trick, his knees almost touching hers again and again, trying to draw her in. "I bet I can do it."

She moved cautiously, but fluidly back a step as he caught her hands, spun her again, and locked her to his chest. She laughed a sigh. "I bet you can't."

"Why?" he replied, spinning her out again and letting her dance for him in her lithe, careless way. "You lesbian?"

She laughed a bit and shook her head so her hair flew about recklessly, flinging droplets of sweat.

"Or," The god put his hands on her hips and propped her on his knee, "has no one done it before?"

Her body was bright from the heat generated and she was shimmering with sweat, but Apollo could feel her turn redder in her embarrassment. Apollo pulled back a moment and looked like he was examining her pelvis, his features alight with disbelief and excitement. "A virgin!?" His exclamation wasn't loud enough to be heard over the drumming beat, but his singer still glanced around nervously, until she saw the boyish excitement on her dance partner's face. He clung tighter to her hips. "A virgin offering." She must've just finished college, the poor girl.

She laughed again, a bubble of laugh, as she allowed herself to sink a bit further into him, "You still want this?"

"Hell, yes, I want this," he exclaimed in reply and his mouth found her lips before she could reply, but he could feel her laugh again and they said little else as the music continued to sound into the night.

The remainder of the evening was spent in the dance club and at a hotel, a rather fancy hotel, but she wasn't paying attention. She was wrapped around Apollo and she wasn't letting go until he released her – and he wasn't going to release her soon. He had considering taking her on the dance floor, but he treated his virgins right. He got them so rarely now-a-days and he figured out very quickly that his singer had been completely honest.

He explored her gently, made her laugh, taught her everything she was willing to learn. He composed poetry for her and whispered it sweetly into her ear. He hummed and sang while he worked and she sang back and Apollo felt he had done her some good when he arose before sunrise the following morning.

Apollo was gathering his clothes when his singer rolled over with the most pleasant of smiles on her face and asked where he was going.

"Sorry, babe," her answered as he button up he pants. "I've gotta go raise the sun."

His singer's eyes followed him as he gathered his things from around the room. "But don't worry," he hummed as he slipped on his belt. "I have honored you greatly by blessing your first time." He smiled to himself as he pulled on his socks. "You'll keep singing and soon you'll find a nice, responsible guy to take care of you and you'll live happily ever after."

"That sounds nice," she grinned with a small, tired sigh, flopped over beautifully on the bed; blankets rumpled and tossed, hair everywhere, silk sheets caressing her bare skin.

Apollo returned her smile and he tosseled her already tossled hair as he learned over to get his coat. "Take care of yourself, K?" His warm hands trace her face and he kissed her three more times between words. "May your life be filled with joy, happiness, and music."

As he started to get up, his singer shot up quickly, took a firm hold of his face and his sun-bleached hair and kissed him, passionately, back. "And love," she breathed, her mouth mere centimeters from his. "Say love, too."

She could feel his boyish grin across her lips. "And love." They shared one, last, deep kiss and then Apollo released her, slipped out the door, and vanished almost without a trace. His singer remained. She wrapped herself up carelessly in the sheets and rolled over. Soon after the sun slowly began to rise as she watched it from the bed.

Everything was different after that night. Her singing was different after that night. She knew what love was and had experienced it, although her version of love was probably different from most other people's version of love. She knew what music was. She had felt it in her hands. She had only known her teacher for one night, but he had given her so much that she could not feel bitterness towards him.

She kept singing. Apollo had said that she would, but now it almost felt like a promise she had to keep. It became her world and her lifeblood. Even after she found out that she was pregnant and that still tiny, precious gift her teacher had given her made it hard to stand or walk or get work, she still kept singing.

She did meet that nice, responsible guy Apollo said that she'd find. She had been picking up toiletries from the corner store when the baby started rolling and kicking and she near doubled over with wooziness and pain. She fell to one knee on the sidewalk.

"Are you alright, miss?" came a voice from above. A young man had stopped and offered her help. She looked up at him, her now short hair curling around her ears. He was nice; a little plain, but strong looking with a little crooked nose, short, neat hair and light brown eyes. He must've been older than her, but until her baby was born, she treated him as her younger.

"I'm alright. It's just the usual nausea," were her first words to him.

"Can I get you anything? Would you like to sit down? There's a coffee shop."

She winced as the baby started to settle. "Tea would be great."

The boy took her bags, helped her up and was quite shocked when he realized she was pregnant, but he wasn't about to withdraw his hospitable offer. He walked her into a little beat-nick coffee shop of a place called Heatherford's with a homely, country sort of feel with all the wood paneling. The boy sat her down at one of the small, round tables next to the counter and then went right behind the counter and started throwing together the first kind of tea he found since he had forgotten to ask her what kind of tea she wanted. She took it without complaint. "You work here?"

"I manage," he replied, moving dirty mugs out of the way. "My pop owns the place. I'm hoping to buy it from him some day." He looked cute and hopeful.

She glanced around, carefully sipping her tea, and spotted the small stage. "You do live music?"

The man, David was his name, had put one of those little aprons on and was clearing the counter. "Hm? Yes, we get live bands."

"Would you hire me?"

Needless to say, David was incredibly reluctant to higher a pregnant lady who he had found collapsed on the street to do anything (not because he didn't think she could do it, but because he wouldn't want to strain her). The singer pushed and persuaded and said she needed work (which she did) and eventually got David to let her sing for him. He was instantly entranced, which comes to no surprise and he instantly hired her. She could only talk him into once a week to start, but she got discounts on coffee. She developed a small, local fan base, but David still wouldn't hire her for more days when she was so pregnant. He had to keep reminding her that she was lucky he was letting her stand up there and sing all night in the first place, seeing as he was as concerned for her as many of her fans were.

"Hey everyone," she laughed into the mike one night on stage. "Don't give David such a hard time about me being up here when I'm pregnant, okay? I twisted his arm. Singing is my life and if David didn't hire me and let me sing for you guys, I don't know what I'd do. I'm very happy, and thankful to David for letting me be up here." She gave her man in the back a bright, sincere smile. "So if you've got a problem concerning me, complain to me, not David, alright?" There was a small murmur among the crowd as they sighed and apologized. "Now, what do you want me to sing next?"

David took very careful care of his singer and his singer was very thankful to have him (and everyone could tell). She wasn't bitter at her baby's daddy, but that didn't make the idea of being a single mom any easier. And singing did tire her out and it was hard to pay the bills, but she did it and she got through it with David's help and the help of all the wonderful people at the coffee shop. They would ask her who the baby's daddy was every once in a while and she would stare out the window and shrug. "I don't know," she'd say with a little smile. "But he was a good man, I think."

When the singer, Danielle was her name, was taking a small break one night in her third trimester and her contractions started going hay-wire and she finally realized that's what they were, David was the first one she called. "David? Baby!" David was in the back, though, so he didn't hear the first few times she called until half the coffee house called for him at the same time. The poor boy launched himself out from the back in fear and alarm. Danielle had a small crowd around her. "David. Baby. Get the car."

After a moment's hesitation and a panicked few moments of running around and tossing the rookie the store keys to lock up and a few cheers from the fans and customers, David got the car around and they were off to the hospital. David stayed with her almost the whole time. He stepped out during the actual birthing, again once to check the store, and another to get some decent food. Danielle's friends came with her overnight bag and a few folks from the coffee shop stopped by. They held a mini, late baby-shower for her when she got back where David proposed (somewhat informally). Barely half a year later they had a small, perfect wedding that started late because Danielle had to stop to feed the baby. Danielle had given birth to a healthy, beautiful baby boy who looked just like his father from the moment he was brought into the world just after Valentines Day.

David's Pop gave him the coffee shop and the young couple ran it together. Danielle got the sing more and her son started singing with her the moment he could and they made a remarkable singing duo. Some of her fans suggested she make a CD, but she wasn't sure she wanted to take her singing that far. She liked singing live for her family and for her friends. Nothing could change that.

Apollo did see his singer a third time. He did not forget. Her voice lured him in off the street as it had the first time with a guitar on his back. She was on the stage serenading the audience, making them love her. Her small boy sat in the front with their friends. Apollo leaned against a poll and just stood there. He didn't pull out his guitar and accompany her this time (although he kind of wanted to). He didn't speak, he didn't cheer, he didn't sing. He just watched and listened to his singer and what he had crafted her into.

Her kid sang with her next and that's when she noticed him, standing in the back and glowing. They performed a breath-taking duet for him, then took a break, received compliments and then went to him. Danielle sat on a table, he small boy in her lap and smiled up at his daddy. "Hello."

"Hey," he grinned as he approached. "You did good."

"Thank you," she grinned back. "I was hoping you'd like it."

Apollo ruffled his son's hair. "Is this my boy?"

"He's your boy."

Apollo stooped a bit to see his face. The boy was quiet, knowing a supernatural presence when he was in one, and almost seemed to purr with his father's hand on his head.

"Good looking kid. Great voice, too. You've got the makings of greatness, here."

The mother laughed. "So I've been told."

"What's his name?"

Danielle combed her boy's hair back. "Jaren Rose."

Apollo tried to turn his laugh into a smirk, but it didn't work very well. "Nice name."

Danielle slid Jaren to the ground to scuttle off to David. "Well, I wanted to name him something after you, but I didn't know who you were so I just went with what I had." She looked a little sad, but not very sad. She would've liked to have named her boy something that would've pleased his father a bit more, but she had nothing to work with except for the music he gave her.

They watched Jaren climb up onto a stool at the counter so David could give him a glass of milk and tell him it was time for bed. Apollo smiled and Danielle smiled wider. She was so proud of them.

"I see you found yourself a man."

"Yes," her face brightened. "A good man, just like you said."

"I said 'nice guy'."

"Whatever."

They did not talk much. They had little reason to. Apollo had thought little of her since their last meeting and she had lived her life and raised her baby without him all this time and she would go on to raising her boy without him after he was gone. Nothing had changed, but it was nice to see him for just a moment, and for him to see his boy. Apollo told Danielle about a summer camp she could send his boy to when he got old enough.

"All these years without a word and you come to tell me about a summer camp."

"Yeah, I know. But you'll get it when he's older. You might even thank me."

"I'll let him decide."

Apollo fixed his guitar on his back. "Well, babe." He paused and grinned as she gave him a sarcastic smirk. "May your life be filled with joy, happiness, and music."

His singer's face bloomed with love and affection and serenity. "And love. Say love too."

He grinned his boyish grin and kissed her lightly on the forehead. "And love."

And he left. Apollo vanished from her life; not their boy's but she didn't know that yet. David saw him leave and wrapped his arms around his wife. "Who was that?" Danielle continued to smile serenely. "Baby's daddy. Don't worry. I don't think he's coming back."

David nuzzled his face in her collarbone with a little whine.

"What is it?" Danielle giggled.

"I wanna be baby's daddy."

Danielle couldn't stop giggling. "You are the baby's daddy, though. You raised him."

"I want some of our own, too, though." David continued to whine.

"Fine," Danielle surrendered. "You can have some too."

"Really?" David beamed.

"Yes, really. Now grow up and get me some of that nasty tea that's suppose to help my throat."

Not too many years later, just after her third child had started school, Danielle recorded a CD of original songs with Jaren. They made the whole things themselves with friends at the coffee shop helping design the CD jacket, critiquing the music, and taking pictures. The CDs sold like hotcakes at their little Heatherford's coffee shop, where they were selling them. It had barely been finished when Jaren was old enough to go to the summer camp his father had told them about and everything changed again.


	2. Man Eaters

Children of Apollo

A collection of short stories about Apollo, his lovers, and his children

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Man-Eaters

One evening Apollo indulged himself in seeing a Broadway musical and then insisted on meeting the cast afterwards. That may sound incredibly vague, but after millennia of attending musicals, operas, concerts, ballets, masses, synagogues, poetry readings, great halls, and random people's rooms and studios, exactly what Apollo was watching began to blend together. Apollo didn't need to know what he was watching to know when he was in the presence of great talent or a beautiful lady, for that matter. Though Apollo did, and quite often, simply attend a show to appreciate the creativity and skill it presented (Ever see a Caucasian male model walk into a theatre with nine sexy ladies with him? Yeah, that was Apollo.), this evening he wasn't interested in the story, but was elated to be able to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.

The main female lead, played by the young and beautiful Megan Paige, was absolutely flawless. Her range of emotions, her timing, her projection, her staging, her voice, her body language, pick something, she did it flawlessly. She drew the audience up onto the stage with her. Everything she said, had it been modern English or Shakespearean, they would've understood exactly what she was trying to say by the way her voice quivered or laughed or the way her body twisted, each step perfectly placed. Her music and words flowed together so smoothly that it was difficult to catch when the transition occurred. Even when she wasn't the center of attention, all eyes were on her anyway, she held herself so well. Rags could not hide or diminish the queen that she was.

So Apollo was determined to have her. After all, a lady cannot be a true leader in his domain without being 'christened' by the God of music, himself. Apollo had 'christened' so many in the musical community that it almost seemed that if there hadn't been male musical talent, it'd be a miracle that Apollo wasn't lead to inbreeding (not that he hadn't 'christened' some of this male talent too).

Waiting outside Megan's private dressing room was another young lady, the wonderfully talented concert violinist, Michelle Castanello. Apollo had recognized her from concerts he had attending previously when he was trying to seduce the lead soprano (man, had **that **taken a few tries), and had noted her perfect performance during the musical as well, especially the short, but feverent solo she preformed during the show's overture and leading love scene. She stood so as to take up as little space as possible and smiled sheepishly up at Apollo who beamed brightly back at her, causing her to flinch inwardly when her face turned bright red. Not very professional, Apollo thought, and he preferred women with a bit more of a backbone, but she was pretty and talented enough to deserve a house call if business was ever slow.

A moment later, Michelle's name was shrieked from inside the dressing room and the small looking lady snuck, most masterfully, into the room. Apollo listened as the main female lead screeched and threw random objects at the concert violinist, and was responded to by timid whispers. The actress hollered something else and then threw open her door, her costume delicately clinging to her shoulders and bosom for dear life. She gave the appearance of possibly being a brothel girl from out west with sex hair piled on her head, corset, boots, fabric everywhere, heavy, flirtatious make up, and a very, very playful smile.

Apollo learned very, very quickly that if it wasn't for Megan's ungodly acting talent, she would've been ejected from the Earth a decade ago, she was so obnoxious. She had a harsh and nasally New York accent, ten times worse than The Nanny. In fact, her incredibly acting talent seemed to magnify all her faults off stage. She was still a beautiful woman, there was no mistaking that, and she knew it, what's more. And had Megan known there was an Aphrodite to challenge, she would've challenged her. Apollo wished she had, and then Aphrodite would've taken care of her already.

Apollo also soon discovered that little Michelle was the actress's only friend (if one would go as far as to call them friends) seeing as the violinist was the only person in the world that could tolerate Megan's company for more than ten minutes without wanting to strangle her with piano wire. Megan kept her at her heel so she always had something to beat upon when she found fault in everything around her except herself.

"Georgia, were you trying to trip me with your train? Whoever was managing the spotlight is an absolutely atrocious human being! I swear, Nina, if you try to cut off my line again, I'm going to rip out your eyes and feed them to you. Keep up, Michelle. Who moved my bouquet for the confession scene? Why do all of you smell like a cat crawled out of the sewer, died, and then puked all over you? Why do all of you look like a cat crawled out of the sewer, died, and then puked all over you? Michelle, hold my gloves. Francis, your make-up's atrocious. Why is there mud on your face? Why are you all still in costume? I may have tripped over the cord for all those funny looking clouds. Be a dear and tell Brian to fix them. Michelle, where the hell is my hat? Renee, I think I saw a cockroach in my dressing room. Go destroy it for me. Show me to the after party! I'm feeling crazy! No, Derrick. Go away."

If Apollo wasn't so fond of hunting, he might've given up the chase right there. His poor, talented violinist was beautiful and kind, but quiet and timid, had absolutely no backbone and everyone felt bad for her. His actress was beautiful and talented, but loud and cruel, annoying, infuriating, overly bold and no one felt bad for at all. Had they been merged together, they may have made his ideal woman.

So he took them both back to the hotel with him.

Now, when Apollo desires a threesome, accepting is not a question of compromising morals. He shared himself with the both of them and ended up enjoying himself much more than he thought he was going to. Michelle actually asked quite a few questions and he eventually ended up explaining about himself and the Gods and telling the ladies of their tales late into the night and early into the next morning.

He ditched them before sunrise, quite pleased with himself, and never looked back. The two women awoke slightly changed for now they had a bond over their deep, insatiable infatuation with Apollo. They both bore him a daughter who they named Eos and Dawn (Megan's daughter was Dawn. Michelle's daughter was Eos). They raised their daughters to be as alike as physically possible and drowned them in stories of their father. It was pleasant enough at first, but as the daughters grew, they began to detest their mothers' obsession with the man that had fathered them and abandoned them. They held close together, grew up beautiful and strong, sharing everything, including their growing hatred of men and their vulgar ways.

At age eleven, after defending themselves from a giant python with the assistance of a local satyr, they were escorted to Camp Half Blood. At age twelve, after attending the camp for one summer, (long enough for everyone there to know that the tanned and sun-bleached sisters would grow up to be total man-eaters), Dawn and Eos were approached by Artemis and her huntresses. The sisters instantly took up the chance to join the hunt and were incredibly grateful for the opportunity. They became magnificent huntresses and enjoyed the company of their aunt much more than their father.


	3. One Youth

Children of Apollo

_A collection of short stories about Apollo, his lovers, and his children_

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_One Youth_

Artemis had had enough. She'd come to the last straw. The moon goddess had forgiven her brother many times of many things and she knew that she would eventually forgive him this since it was impossible for her to stay mad at her twin, but she was determined to punish him first.

Apollo's current lapse in judgment was a mistake he made often enough: he tried to hit on Artemis' huntresses. He had gotten past Artemis' guard (which perplexed her to no end seeing as her brother was really a bit too flamboyant to bother sneaking or be the least bit stealthy) and caught them bathing. Unfortunately Artemis couldn't simply turn her brother into a deer and watch as his own hunting dogs devoured him, especially since Apollo didn't have any hunting dogs, so the goddess had to be a bit more clever.

Artemis summoned Hermes. The tall, suave, and charming, salt & peppered herald of the gods arrived quickly on winged feet in a business suit. "Aw, fair half sister." Hermes smeared the formalities on thick. He bowed and swept his hat so low that it almost touched the ground. "It has been too long since I have been graced with your presence."

Artemis, despite being the colder of the twins, honored Hermes with a small nod and smile. Everyone liked Hermes. "I have a favor to ask."

"Oh, you twisted my arm, but all right. What's the favor?"

Artemis stood up straight in her twelve year old body. "I would like you to win me my brother's lyre."

"Win you, my dear?"

"Yes. I don't want it stolen. I want you to win it for me as fairly as possible."

Hermes did love a challenge and was instantly intrigued, but he was much too clever to simply accept. "Aw, but my dear goddess," he began. "What's in it for me? I leeched your brother of all I desired from him some time ago." Hermes made a quick reference to the fact that he had created the lyre in the first place and had traded it for, not only Apollo's entire heard of sacred cattle, but Apollo's magic wand as well.

"You know perfectly well what I will give and what I will not give, young herald," was Artemis' reply. "Name your price."

Hermes pondered for a moment, then smirked. "I do believe you have trophies of some rather extinct creatures in that tent of yours that would be worth some value. I would like a few."

"A few?" Artemis scowled and laughed at the same time. "And which few, pray tell, would you be requesting?"

Hermes grinned majestically. "How about the birds, for now. I'll save the mammals for the next time you desire a favor."

Artemis scoffed, though it was plain that she was amused. "I'm not entirely sure it's fair to simply give you my trophies when I will be giving my brother an opportunity to win his lyre back."

Hermes bowed again. "Well, then, my lady, I too shall give you an opportunity to win back your trophies. Sound fair?"

"Fair enough," Artemis replied, shaking his hand. She showed him to her tent and Hermes quickly, carefully, and efficiently wrapped up and packaged all the trophies in her tent that were of the avian variety. When he was done, he stood and beamed down at her. "Let me know how it goes."

"Just bring me his lyre." With that- Artemis booted him out of her tent and he vanished with his packages.

Getting Apollo's lyre from him was far too easy. It wasn't that Apollo (or any of the gods, for that matter) are stupid, it's just that they don't expect anyone to dupe them. Who would try to double cross a god, especially one as handsome as Apollo? Hermes had taken the form of a beautiful, young woman (seeing as Apollo seems to be unable to resist them of late) and challenged him to a poker game when he cornered him at a small bar. Hermes, that ragamuffin, apparently could be a very convincing girl because Apollo immediately agreed. A few other guys joined in too, but they lost everything very quickly.

Hermes didn't rob Apollo of everything he had instantly. Hermes let the Sun god win from time to time, dragged the game out, raised the stakes, but was slowly and steadily leeching everything of value off Apollo. Hermes kept calling for drinks and, with a little help from Dionysus who would gladly assist in messing up gods for free, started to rob Apollo of the scraps of his good judgment and inspire a bit of a competitive spirit.

By the end of the night, Hermes had everything Apollo had on him in a pile in front of him: money, condoms, drachmas, scrap pieces of paper with notes and lyrics scribbled on them. "Those are going to be hits, so don't lose 'em," Apollo had told him. Apollo started wagering his clothing and when Hermes won Apollo's pants, he pointed out that they had Apollo's keys in them.

"Aw, shit," was all Apollo could manage to say. "Hey, listen. I need those back."

"Oh no, big boy," Hermes grinned. "You'll have to win 'em back."

Apollo laughed, highly amused by this fiery vixen he had stumbled upon. "But I've got nothing left to wager."

The silver slut of a woman that Hermes had disguised himself as smiled cunningly. "What about that fancy guitar of yours?"

Apollo sobered for an instant. He looked down at his guitar that he had leaning delicately against his chair, picked it up and held it like a child. "But, I- I don't wanna give you my guitar."

"Fine then," Hermes stood, spinning the keys on his finger. "Show me which one your car is."

"Okay, okay!" Apollo jumped. He loved his guitar more than anything, but he knew that he'd be in a mega colossal heap of trouble if he lost the Sun to a bar girl in a poker game.

Apollo lost his guitar to a full house. He was devastated. Hermes swept his winnings into his bag and slung the guitar on his back. He turned back into Hermes and handed the crying Apollo his keys back. "Don't feel bad, chum." Hermes grinned and patted Apollo on the cheek. "I've never lost a game in me life." Everyone else at the bar was shocked and confused that the slutty girl had turned into a tall, middle-aged guy. Hermes whistled as he strolled out of the bar. "This'll teach ya not to gamble." Hermes stopped in the doorway. "Oh, and Apollo-"

The sobering god looked up, clutching his car keys in his hands.

Hermes gave him a very serious, thoughtful look. "Perhaps you should find someone else to drive you home."

-

The first day, Apollo didn't tell anyone. He sobered up, drove the Sun across the sky and was done with it. But when night came around again and he didn't have his loyal instrument with him, the withdrawal kicked in. Apollo went straight to his sister.

"It's gone, Artemis! I lost it!" Apollo wailed. He just wasn't the same without his music. "This chick at a bar took it, except it wasn't a chick it was a-"

"What did you lose?" Artemis interrupted, looking down at her miserable brother from her chair in her tent. She felt no pity.

"My guitar. My lyre." Apollo sobbed. "Hermes took it from me. Damn it, the man could've just made his own if he wanted it so bad."

"You mean this lyre?" Artemis pulled out Apollo's lyre that had shrunk into a small, golden hand harp that was just the right size for the goddess.

"Yes!" Apollo sprung up in excitement. "Where'd you find it?"

"I traded Hermes for it." Artemis replied, matter-of-factly.

Apollo froze, his excitement shattered and fallen to pieces at his feet. "You're not going to give it back to me, are you?"

Artemis smiled a small, wistful smile. "I thought we'd make some sort of bargain."

Apollo sighed, plopped down on the floor, flopped down his legs and leaned back on his hands. "Sis, if you want me to never hit on your huntresses again, that's never going to happen."

"I know that," Artemis scowled. "Holding your lyre hostage once isn't going to fix that depraved hole in your personality, but I thought it was worth a shot."

"Besides, they're all a bit young for me anyway. Twelve year old bodies aren't my kind of attractive."

"Excuse me?"

"Come on, sis. Look at you. Your women body is way more sexy than that tiny, flat, shapeless form."

Artemis' face twisted with disgust. "All the more reason I stay in this form."

Apollo flopped fully onto the floor, completely spread eagle. "If you had let them grow up, they all would've wanted me, anyway."

Artemis' grip on the lyre tightened. "Are you questioning my hunter's integrity?"

"Get off yourself, Sis. You're the only girl who's grown up and hasn't wanted sex from me and that's only because you're my sister."

Artemis thought she was disgusted before, but now she thought she was going to have to go out behind her tent and throw up, possibly in her brother's car. "I know you're feeling off not having your lyre with you, but you're a couple millennia ahead of yourself if you think that every women would want you."

"I can make any women want me," Apollo repeated from his spot on the floor, "because every women is a sucker for a serenade and a sappy poem."

"Maybe the women you're pursuing," Artemis mumbled under her breath.

"Find me one," Apollo challenged as he sat up. "Find me one that isn't and I'll give you my hat."

"You don't have a hat."

"I'll go get one and I'll give it to you. Find me a woman I can't seduce and I'll leave you alone… for a year."

"A year?" Artemis raised her eyebrow.

"A decade."

Artemis sat back. "I'm not offering you a young lady of purity."

Apollo put his hands up in defense. "Then find a deflowered one. I don't care. But if I win, I get my lyre back."

Artemis sat in thought for a moment, her hands running along the edges of the lyre. She sat up. "Alright. I'll find you one youth and before the year is out, you must show me the child of your seduction. If you can, I'll return your lyre to you. If you can't, you must leave myself and my huntresses alone for at least the next decade."

Apollo thought on the proposition. "But that only gives me a few months to get this girl pregnant if I have to show you the child before the year's out."

"Don't you usually do it in one night?" Artemis scowled again. When did her brother turn into such a pimp? "And you can't asked Aphrodite to help you."

Apollo snapped his fingers now that his back up plan was destroyed. "Fine. Fine. I can do it. Just show me the girl and I'll show you the baby."

And Artemis just smiled.

Artemis kicked her brother out of her tent and told him to come back tomorrow. She went back out into the brisk night air where her mind was the clearest and thought long and hard about what sort of girl she should pick for her brother. She could find one that was hideously ugly, or perhaps one that hated men (she knew where to find those). Perhaps she'd find one that was tone-deaf, or maybe just deaf; deaf and mute; Apollo wouldn't know what to do with himself. In the end, Artemis was quite fond of her choice.

-

The next evening Apollo returned, bright-eyed and bushy tailed with his second best guitar strapped to his back. "Where to, sis? Where's this feisty female?"

Artemis rolled her eyes and told him to get in the damn chariot. Although Artemis preferred her traditional chariot and hinds, as she approached the city she was forced to change it into a car: a sleek, silver 2010 Honda Civic. It wasn't the flashiest of cars, but it did the job. Artemis also had to change into an adult form so that she could see over the wheel. The siblings had their windows down and people stopped and gazed at them as they passed. They were probably the two most beautiful people in the city. Artemis maneuvered expertly through city traffic until she finally reached the none too friendly looking street. She stopped on a shady street corner by a pub, outside of which stood three ladies of the night, all in fishnets, leather, and flimsy, dirty shawls.

A rather gangly one approached Apollo's window as he looked her up and down. "Looking for a ride, hun?" The woman asked.

Artemis shook her head and leaned over her brother, night black hair spilling down over her shoulders and framing her pale face. "He's looking for Shannon."

The gangly woman backed off, spoke to the others, and called for a lady inside the pub. Out walked a rather tall and sturdy woman with a sleek face and fierce eyes.

"Oh good," Apollo mumbled. "I get the clean one. Sis, you're so considerate." Apollo slipped on his shades (despite the fact that it was very much night time) and slid out of the car with his guitar.

"Don't screw this up." His sister smiled at him before she slid the car into gear and hummed off down the street. Apollo watched his sister drive away and vanish around the corner before turning and looking the potential prostitute up and down. "Uh…" When did he become such a pimp?

The sturdy potential prostitute examined him back. Apollo fixed his shades and decided to go about this as direct as possible, since he really wasn't very good at being subtle (most gods weren't). "So you're Sharron?"

"It's Shannon, thank you." Her voice contained the remnants of a southern accent.

"All right, Shannon." Apollo grinned as he slid his guitar off his back and started tuning it. "I've been sent to seduce you."

The woman gave him a skeptical look. "By who?"

Apollo strummed and a clear cord rang down off the broken walls of the sketchy street. "The moon," he replied with a smirk.

The woman gave a look that translated into: 'you must be the stupidest person I've ever seen' and said, "I'm sorry, bub, but I'm busy tonight. You'll have to come back tomorrow." And with that, she walked back into the pub. Apollo was left a little shocked. Usually women didn't turn him down so casually. When he tried to follow, the other women on the street blocked him. "I'm not busy tonight. You can seduce me."

Apollo retreated and walked off down the street mumbling under his breath. "I can seduce woman that give me a moment to actually seduce them." Apollo was wondering if all this humiliation was going to be worth it as he returned to Olympus for the evening.

-

The next few nights and the little while after that ended up being remarkably similar: Apollo showed up - the dashing young white boy - and had the door slammed on him.

"By the mother of the muses, is there a waiting list or something to see her?" Apollo complained after being turned down every day that week. Apollo could not remember a time in his history when he had been denied so consistently.

The prostitutes looked a little sorry for him and they shook their heads as they passed a cigarette between them. "She ain't in the mood for menfolk right now, kiddo."

"Well, I'm not either, ya know?" It was a terrible joke, but Apollo wasn't in the most creative of moods. "Can't I just talk to her? That's a reasonable request, right? I've been trying to see her all week."

The women discussed amongst themselves and told Apollo where to find her. It was a shady little apartment on an even shadier street. It must've been her apartment because she started cursing profusely when Apollo rapped cheerfully upon her door. Not being allowed to enter, Apollo quickly left the building, climbed the fire escape and perched outside her barred window. He peered inside.

The inside of the apartment matched the outside. Shannon was inside at a broken mirror, taking her hair down and dabbing a cut on her lip.

"I'm back!" Apollo grinned through the bars and Shannon started cursing again. If one removed the cursing, she basically said: "Go away. I'm tired." She pulled down the shade on him.

"Perfect," was Apollo's response, pulling his guitar up into his lap. "You're going to bed? Please allow me to sing you to sleep."

More cursing. "If I say yes, will you go away?"

"Absolutely." And before Shannon had another chance to curse him out, Apollo started playing. His voice and his guitar were as gentle and soothing and beautiful as music could be. He whispered her a lullaby; the kind that makes one feel vulnerable, but safe and warm at the same time. There was no more cursing. Apollo heard the squeak of bedsprings when Shannon laid down, then nothing. He continued to sing quietly long into the night and serenaded the whole block to sleep. Apollo was happy as long as he was surrounded with music.

Apollo returned to the pub the next night, and when they said Shannon wasn't there, he returned to her tiny apartment window. "Hello again," he chimed.

More cursing.

"I hope you don't mind if I sing to you, again."

Less cursing.

This continued many nights, Apollo's music distracting him from his lack of progress, until one evening when Shannon didn't drop the shade and Apollo heard her unlock her door. Shannon was there to open it for him when Apollo came to it and the woman sighed in defeat. "Tell the moon: you seduced me."

-

The next morning, Apollo sought out his sister.

"She's a hermaphrodite," was the first thing he said to her.

"Yes?" was Artemis' reply as she examined her arrows.

"She can't have kids."

"Hermaphrodites can have kids."

"Yeah, but this one can't."

"What a pity," the goddess sighed as she finished preparing her bows in her quiver.

Apollo watched his twin as she worked, both amused and peeved at the same time. "You tricked me."

"I did not trick you."

"You said you'd find me a girl and I'd show you a baby, not a girl/guy who's too much guy to have a baby."

"First off, I said I'd find you 'one youth'. It's your fault for not paying attention. Secondly, it's not my fault the woman's infertile. Usually gods get around that, don't they?"

Apollo moaned a bit longer while he thought about what to do. Shannon being infertile or not, he was running out of time. He did not even have a full nine months (since he started with less than a year to work in the first place). It was a good thing he was on good terms with the goddess of childbirth. Apollo ruffled up his sister's hair before darting off for his car. Artemis growled and did not watch him leave.

Apollo's father was Zeus, which meant that whoever his mother had been, Hera had been jealous of her. When Leto, daughter of the titan Coeus, was pregnant with the twins, Hera forbade the land from offering Leto shelter. Leto fled from place to place until she ended up on Delos, a miserable spit of an island that didn't even count as land. However, Leto could not give birth to her twins because Hera had forbade Ilithyia, the goddess of childbirth, from going to her. The other goddesses felt bad for Leto and offered Hera a huge and beautiful necklace for her assistance. Hera accepted, Leto had her twins and Zeus made Delos into a real island and it became one of the richest of all the Greek islands. Long story short, Apollo and the goddess of childbirth had a special relationship.

Since the ancient Greek gods didn't exactly have a goddess of fertility (they had fertile goddesses and goddesses of love and things concerning fertility, families, and babies), Apollo asked whomever he could think of for the ability to make Shannon fertile. It was a bit of an overkill, but it was Apollo.

Shannon was overjoyed to be pregnant. She had always, desperately wanted to have kids and now she was able to. Apollo told her she had to shape up if she was going to have his kid, and she did. She worked hard, went back to school, didn't take anyone's crap. Apollo normally wouldn't have said anything, but he had to stick around long enough to actually show Artemis the kids, so he made sure Shannon was treating them right.

Sharron gave birth to a beautiful set of twins, a boy and a girl. Apollo showed them, oh so triumphantly, to Artemis who, begrudgingly, returned Apollo's lyre to him. Hermes returned Artemis' trophies with a friendly chuckle and, much to Artemis' chagrin, once Apollo got use to having his lyre back, he returned to popping up and harassing Artemis in his loving, brotherly way.

And they were all back to where they started.


	4. Nightclub Dancer

Children of Apollo

A collection of short stories about Apollo, his lovers, and his children

--------------------------

Nightclub Dancer

Apollo was going clubbing as he often liked to do when he became intrigued by one fine dancer in particular. Apollo had seen good cage dancers before, but this girl was an excellent cage dancer and was alluring flexible to boot.

He did her in his car. He enjoyed playing with her. He liked riding her. When he was done he gave her back to her friends and never saw her again. Apparently she had a kid from that who was later found as a runaway by a satyr in an abandoned apartment building.


	5. Day Sleeper

Children of Apollo

A collection of short stories about Apollo, his lovers, and his children

-----------------------------------------

_Day Sleeper_

One fine summer day, when Apollo was driving his predecessor, Helios', golden chariot across the sky (and by golden chariot, I mean sports car), a sunbather caught his attention. She was lying by an in-ground pool by a large, white house in a fairly rural and secluded suburb. She had a gorgeous body, healthy and glowing, with fine, toned muscles, long, slender legs, long eye-lashes, fine eye-brows, aquiline nose, heart-shaped face, strawberry blond hair that spilled out around her head like a fiery crown. She was lying on a thick, bright yellow towel decorated with suns and she stretched out like a model posing for a photo shoot in her white and yellow bikini that sparkled in the light. Apollo, when he hopped down for a closer look, realized she was asleep.

"She's going to tan terribly like that," he sighed to himself. She was in a lounging position, one leg bent over the other, her long, delicate arms folded over her long torso with her hands laying close to her face.

Apollo glanced around. The trees that surrounded the pool area, that at the right time of day acted as shade trees and wind blocks, now blocked the young lady and himself completely from view of the main house so Apollo didn't worry about getting caught (not that he actually ever worried about that anyway, but it made things easier if he checked).

He almost didn't want to move her; she formed such a lovely composition. Her bent legs emphasized the curve of her waist and hips. Her hands carefully hid the part of her face that was smooshed against the towel and lawn chair. Her toes were nicely pointed and her nails were neatly trimmed and French manicured. Her hair fanned out around her, framed her face and slipped around her shoulders, down her neck, and across her breast. Her cheeks were pink from the heat and her breath was deep and soft and slow.

He took her shoulders with the intention of rolling her onto her back so she didn't mess up her tan, but when he touched her sun-warmed skin and felt the softness and the muscle there, he hesitated. He let his eyes and his hands trace the curves of her body, examining them all very closely, and Apollo had an impure thought.

Now, Apollo didn't do this sort of thing very often, if ever. He very much preferred conscious girls over unconscious ones, but he really wanted this one and he knew that seducing her in the usual way would take a while. He could've woken her up, strolled up to her like a creepy person who got lost and approached the sleeping pool girl in her own backyard, acted all innocent while hoping that she wasn't instantly freaked out and/or that his natural good looks and charismatic charm would woo her, if he was her type. Or he could simply wait it out until she went to a night club, but that was if she was the type to even go to a club and if he took that method, he would have to keep a watch her and he really didn't care enough to do that. She looked very high class and high-maintenance anyway. And he couldn't just walk up to her parents' door, say he was Apollo and ask for her like he used to be able to. People get a restraining order on you now-a-days, if they don't run to get their gun. Plus, Apollo had simply left his chariot, which isn't the best thing to do for any period of time so he really had to act fast. It would take some years before he'd come to regret his hasty act, but he would regret it.

"Morpheus," Apollo whispered to the wind as he carefully rolled the girl onto her back. She was asleep so the god of sleep couldn't have been far away. The minor god appeared almost instantly, glad to be summoned, but a little grumpy nonetheless. "Yes?"

"Oh good." Apollo paused in his work. "Two things. No, wait. No. Three things. Don't you think that that plus me would make one good looking kid?" Apollo nodded at the dozing girl and Morpheus looked at the god like he had no idea what he was talking about and didn't know why he should care in the first place. At Apollo's request, however, Morpheus made an attempt to take the question seriously. He glanced the girl over quickly, not displeased with her appearance and came to the conclusion that a being with a combonation of her physical traights and Apollo's would certainly be attractive to both the common eye and the refined, especially if the child managed to inherate the mother's hair. "Yes," Morpheus agreed after a moment. "You'd make a nice kid."

"Excellent!" Apollo chimed. "Now, ask her how old she is."

Morpheus was about to comply when he stopped, looked down at the dozing girl and then back up to the Sun god's expression.

"Um… I don't mean to pry or anything, but are you sure that's appropriate?"

Apollo whipped his hair back, getting a little excited, but a little pressed for time. "Why? You think she's too young?"

"Not exactly."

"Well, can you ask her?"

Morpheus bent over the young girl's head, put his hands by her ears, and went on to look as if he was watching TV on her forehead. His eyes reflected what he saw in her mind even though nothing was visible to anyone else, even Apollo. Morpheus leaned in and gently asked her how old she was. The girl tilted her head slightly and mumbled in her sleep. "Eighteen."

"Perfect," Apollo cheered to himself. "Nice voice, too. Can you keep her asleep?"

"Course I can," the god of sleep mumbled as he continued wading through the girl's dreams. "She has very vivid dreams," Morpheus stated, walking around in her mind's eye. "Very complex. It's a bit like an acid trip, but with plot lines."

"Dude, I just want her to stay asleep."

"Oh, she'll stay asleep," Morpheus mused, his hands pressed to her face. "She's a very deep sleeper. She'll sleep through anything once she hits REM, that is, if she's undisturbed-" Morpheus still held the girl's face as the Sun god moved the girl about, spreading her legs, shifting her arms.

"This imagery is really something unique," Morpheus commented, enthralled with what he found inside the girl's head. "Can I have her?" he asked.

Apollo was practically straddling the girl when he replied. "No. I found her first."

"And you're reducing me to your date-rape drug?"

"Here," Apollo sighed, whipping his hair back again. "Tell ya what: You keep her asleep and you can have her after she's had my baby. Oh! Better yet, give her a dream or something that will make her get into it."

Morpheus felt a little bitter about sharing her, but he had to comply, after all Apollo had found her first. Morpheus was merely an accomplice in this game of his. Morpheus was lucky to be allowed the use of one of Apollo's lovers seeing as the Gods had a reputation for jealously guarding their babies' mommas. Morpheus wished the young girl pleasure so he gave her the most pleasant dream he could think of to disguise this vulgar act of Apollo's as something wonderful and welcome, which it might've been to some.

When Apollo was done, they used the pool water to clean up after him and he left the girl to her dreaming and returned to his chariot in the sky. Morpheus watched him depart with barely a word of thanks. This girl would become another reason why Morpheus had a distaste for the major gods. They could do whatever they wanted and to the minor gods and the humans whose lives they'd thrown into chaos were left the scraps to divide amongst themselves.

-

The young girl's name was Lauren Argyle. She was eighteen, had just finished high school, and had been accepted to attend Wellesley College in the fall. When she discovered that the strange dream she had had earlier that summer had somehow at least been partially true, she quickly deferred and then transferred to a much more local and low-key college. She still went to college. No divine intervention was going to keep her from gaining the education she wanted. She wasn't as high-class as Apollo had assumed, but she was smart and clever and unswayably determined, at least, she became such after Morpheus attempted to explain to her what was happening to her body.

He had come to her in a dream a few weeks after Apollo had found her, a dark angel appearing from the depths with a great message; that she would bare a child of the god of light and music. She woke up and thought it was a crazy dream until she found out she was pregnant. The goddess of childbirth was rather fond of Apollo. If Apollo wanted his lover to have a baby, his lover had a baby.

Lauren received a great deal of heat from her family for getting pregnant. Apollo had not been Lauren's first, and boy was he not going to be her last, but she had always been very careful and had not been sexually active recently and so was incredibly nervous and confused when she suddenly became pregnant and could not tell her parents how it had happened, which made it sound like she was hiding something terrible from them. However, they all helped her out as best as they could. Her parents, her younger brother and her older brother and sister all supported her, as a loving family should. Morpheus visited her dreams often, Lauren having become his special favorite and allowed her a deep and restful slumber whenever he could.

Morpheus continued to give restful slumbers after her son was born, a beautiful youth with a fluff of strawberry blond hair more precious than any baby born before him. The baby didn't like to nap in the day so Morpheus visited often to make sure the baby dozed so Lauren could work and study. She was originally planning on being a nurse, but after discovering that the hours were incredibly unsuitable for a single mother, she went into special education (which was perfect seeing as her kids grew up ADHD and dyslexic).

Morpheus soon revealed himself to Lauren. He told her as much of the truth as she would hear and revealed his role in the whole ordeal. She refused to talk to him for a day or so, but when her son wouldn't sleep, she forgave Morpheus. He hadn't abandoned her unlike her son's father.

Soon after Lauren had graduated, she gave birth to Morpheus' son, and when she had finished graduate school, she gave birth to his second. Morpheus supported his family as best as he could with the skills that he had. Apollo mocked him for it from time to time, seeing the god of sleep giving a baby a bottle or rocking his son to sleep. Apollo stopped after a while. Poking fun at a minor god that responded to your mocking by making you drowsy was not all that entertaining.

When the satyrs came though on their emergency hunt to find more demi-gods to aid them in the great battle against Luke, Kronus and the titans, Morpheus defended Lauren's children from being discovered and, in his distaste for the main gods and their methods, joined Kronus' side against them.

Thanks to Percy Jackson and his efforts, the minor gods, as well as the demi-gods were allotted their fair share of respect. Morpheus fully informed Lauren about the war that had been lost and won and about Camp Half Blood. Lauren took all this with a grain of salt, but saw little reason to send her children away until one day they all came running up to her, her eldest gleaming like the Sun and her youngest two soft and dark as nightfall with techni-colored eyes. They were all frazzled and dirty.

"Mom! Mom! You have to see this!"

"You'll never believe what just happened!" They grabbed her hands and pulled and she allowed herself to be dragged through her mother's house.

"We were outside playing soccer-"

"We were using my ball."

"Yeah, and we were playing and this giant lizard thing with this big ugly face came out of nowhere."

"It came out of the woods!"

"Yeah and it was all scary and everything."

"Yeah, and it was charging us and I thought we were gonna die!"

"But then it fell asleep!"

"Yeah, mom. It fell asleep. Come look."

Lauren looked around for Morpheus, but didn't see him anywhere. He hadn't shown himself since he had last explained to her about the war earlier that year. He'd shown himself less and less as of late. She kept looking even when they were all outside and the only sign of the monster that had attacked them was torn up grass and torn up trees. Lauren had met gods, talked with them, forgiven them, had their children, but it wasn't until that moment, the moment when that world suddenly was effecting her children, that it all sunk in and became real.

That summer after everything was done, the battle won, and unto all the gods was built his or her own cabin for his or her children, Lauren brought her children to the top of Half Blood Hill.

Chiron, the pleasant old teacher that was actually a centaur in the magical wheelchair, was there to great them. "Well, what do we have here?"

Lauren plopped her youngest child's luggage down with the rest of them as the children marveled down the hill. "a son of Apollo and two sons of Morpheus."

Chiron looked up in surprise, like he had been expecting the children's names, not their parentage, or perhaps he was surprised that two gods, two unlikely gods, had shared themselves with her. Chiron chuckled like this was a mighty fine joke and definitely an excellent conversation piece.

"It's a long story," Lauren sighed, handing her sons' luggage to senior counselors and a strange looking man covered in extra eyes.

"We have a few of those." Chiron continued to chuckle.

Lauren kissed her children, reminded them to write, and sent them racing off down the hill, overcome with excitement. She watched them go with a fair bit of longing. Her eldest was going on fifteen, but her youngest was barely eight. She was going to miss them terribly this summer. Chiron smiled his pleasant old smile at her. "Don't worry, dear. Morpheus cabin is brand new and Apollo's cabin has a good dozen in it right now. They'll have plenty of companionship and they'll get to see each other every day."

Lauren blinked at Chiron curiously, paused, processed what he had said and went back to her car and drove home.

The three boys wrote home often like they promised. Their letters were filled with wonderful stories about the world they had been tossed into. They wrote about their lessons and their training and their newfound talents. They wrote about all the new and fascinating people and creatures they were meeting. They explained again what little they learned about the huge battle that had occurred the year before and how the gods had to claim all their children and how new kids kept coming every day. They talked about their cabins. The eldest often wrote about all his new half siblings and their adventures.

When summer was over and her sons had returned home, they continued their tales of their grand adventures. They turned their background into a mini training ground and would train all afternoon until they'd fall asleep in the grass.

It was late summer, early fall, the leaves had started to turn all sorts of vibrant colors and fall free from their trees, and the children had fallen asleep together on a blanket outside when Apollo finally appeared before Lauren.

She was outside with her children. She had been tucking away their wooden swords and brushing fallen leaves from them. She had just gotten up to fetch another blanket when she found herself staring Apollo in the face.

"Uh… hey."

She slapped him across the face. She knew who he was. She could feel that he was someone different and he looked exactly like her eldest son. "How dare you show your face here, after all these years."

Apollo rubbed his totally not hurt cheek. "Nice to see you too. You look great. How are the kids?"

Lauren stood her ground, absolutely infuriated. "What makes you think you can simply impregnate me and leave me and that you can come back now? Now that they've coped with not having a father?"

"Aw, come on," Apollo laughed. "Having my kid couldn't have been that bad."

"I was terrified," Lauren hollered back while her voice tried to catch I her throat. "You left me with no warning. I had no idea what was going on. People stopped talking to me. I had to completely replan my life."

"That's plans for ya," the god joked.

Lauren's face contorted until she looked like she was about to explode. Apollo tried to cover for himself. "No. I didn't mean it like that. I-"

"Leave," Lauren demanded. "Get out. Get off my property."

"Okay," Apollo surrendered. "I just wanted to see my so-"

Lauren cut him off. She threw herself in front of him and flung her arms out wide to block Apollo was moving toward her children. "Don't you dare go anywhere near them."

Apollo gawked at her in shock. "But he's my son."

"He's **MY** son!" Lauren shot back, tears forming in her eyes. "You had no hand in raising him, sculpting him, supporting him!"

Apollo was beside himself. "But I have to claim him."

"You have claimed him," she growled. "He stayed in your cabin this summer along with a dozen of your other children." She wanted to scream, but she didn't want to wake up her children behind her. "Go! Go and support all those other terrified girls you've gotten pregnant. We don't need you here anymore. We don't want you here. Why would we want you?" She was crying. Lauren was crying harder than she had ever cried in her life. Tears were pouring down her face and soaking through her blouse. She wasn't crying just because she was angry. She was terrified. She had researched something about the gods while her children were away. She knew how little they cared about the lives of mortals and she had just slapped him, shouted in his face, and denied him access to his child. She was crying because she wanted to love him, but she couldn't. He was Apollo. He was a god; great and powerful and beautiful, and he was offering his own sort of reconciliation. She wanted to accept him more than anything else. She wanted him to comfort her, but she was going to protect her children.

Had he tried, Apollo could've easily knocked her over or simply killed her, but he didn't try. He looked like he had been slapped again, except this time it had hurt. There was a minute where neither of them moved and all that could be heard were Lauren's sniffles. Then, slowly, Apollo backed up a pace, apologized softly, turned around and left.

Lauren didn't move for another minute. When she finally did, she lowered her arms and jogged around to the front of her house where Apollo had gone, but Apollo was nowhere to be seen.

Lauren starred out into the blue, sunny sky for another minute, wanting to fall over and continue crying, but she didn't. Instead she walked back inside, found another blanket, brought it outside and laid it on her sleeping children. She was a mother, now, and in her thirties. She couldn't just break down anymore. She had people to be strong for: her kids.

Later that evening, when her children had collapsed into bed and the moon had risen, Lauren received another guest. A young girl showed up in Lauren's yard, looking to be about the same age as Lauren's second son and with hair of a very similar color: black and soft as night. Lauren hurried out to her. The small girl had the most triumphant of smiles. "I've been told that you thoroughly scolded my brother this afternoon. I am very thankful to you."

Lauren's breath caught in her throat. The small girl was Artemis, her eldest son's aunt.

"Do not be troubled," the goddess coaxed. "I have come to grant you a blessing to show my thanks."

"Oh, no. Please. That's not necessary."

Artemis continued to smile. "A small blessing, then." She waved a tiny, delicate hand and her huntresses emerged from the trees. Lauren didn't move. One of the girls approached Artemis with a small bundle and Artemis gently handed it to Lauren. The bundle quivered and shook until Lauren realized there was a small puppy inside, a lop-eared hound. It must've been the runt of the litter. "Oh, but I-"

Artemis would not take it back. "It can take care of itself. It will protect you and your children here."

Lauren held the puppy close and tried not to cry again. "I'll take very special care of it."

"May the moon always smile upon you." The goddess smiled and then slipped away as gently as the moon behind clouds. Lauren starred into her empty backyard for another moment before carrying the tiny pup inside. It yipped and licked at her fingers and slept soundly on the pillow next to her head.

Lauren's children were overjoyed to have a pet, especially one as useful as one of Artemis' hunting dogs. It grew into a friendly and playful, intelligent and protective companion and when her children went to Camp Half Blood the next summer, Lauren wasn't quite as lonely.


	6. Playing Doctor

Children of Apollo

_A collection of short stories about Apollo, his lovers, and his children_

-----------------------------------

_Playing Doctor_

Apollo liked messing with the secretaries when he scheduled his annual medical examinations.

"Name?"

"Apollo. Kinda like Apollo Creed, but, ya know, without the Creed."

They always gave him the most priceless expressions.

Apollo leafed through the three year old parenthood magazines while he waited for his doctor to show. She was looking through Apollo's file when she came in. He found this amusing seeing as he hadn't been to that particular hospital since it opened back in the 1800s. All that must've been in the file was what the nurse got off him earlier along with, he hoped, some sort of comment like 'ungodly beautiful'.

"Apollo?" the female doctor asked with a curious glance.

The Sun god gave her his most warm and charming of smiles and offered her his hand. "Pleasure to meet you. I'm one of the top twelve ancient Greek deities and am one of the many gods of 'everything else'."

The doctor could only stare in a most perplexed manner at Apollo's beaming smile and outstretched hand (which she casually ignored). She scanned over the records again that all showed that this man's health was the crème de la crème of perfection. She raised an eyebrow at him (or at least she would've if she was able to raise an eyebrow). "Is this a joke?"

"No. Of course not." Apollo's smile grew wider as he lowered his hand back down. "Are you going to check me out or have you done that already?"

The doctor gave him a quick scan over from head to toe. He had no bumps or bruises and was in perfect health. Considering her patient and what she gathered about him, she considered the possibility that he was hiding some sort of STD that he wanted cured and had questions about, so she asked him. "The nurse says you're in perfect health. Do you have any questions or concerns?"

Apollo stretched himself out on the examination table and adjusted himself until he was content with his reflection in the full body mirror next to him.

"What's Zoloft?"

The doctor glanced at him again out of the corner of her eye as he admired himself in the mirror. Everyone knew what Zoloft was. "It's a common antidepressant prescribed for a range of disorders. It's a serotonin selective reuptake inhibitor or an SSRI, meaning it helps rebalance the level of serotonin in the brain."

"So it helps with serotonin levels?"

"Yes," she replied, preparing to leave.

"Which makes you happier."

"More or less, yes."

"Doesn't the sun do that?"

"Pardon me?" She stopped.

Apollo was staring up at the ceiling like he was being asked questions by a psychiatrist. "Natural sunlight increases serotonin levels in the brain, correct?"

"Yes-"

"And it does it faster and with less side effects, am I right? I mean, Zoloft takes about four to six weeks before ya start feeling the effects, right?"

"Yes, but-"

Apollo rolled over and was up on one arm so he could look directly at her while he spoke. "Do you feel bad about prescribing medicine that has a nice, cheap, and easy natural cures?"

Apollo's doctor was temporarily struck dumb. She had been challenged before. Some people tend to get quite defensive when it comes to their health, but she had never been accosted like this in her limited experience. "But- you- you can't tell a hurting patient to just go outside. You can't-"

"Ah!" Apollo started laughing to himself, a small but bright laugh; a sunbeam of a laugh. "And that's what I always find most amusing. Humans knew about the healing powers of the sun since my heyday. In the story of Orion- you know the story of Orion, right? - His eyes are put out by an angry king and Orion walks blindly across the Earth until he finds the base of the sun which then heals his eyes."

The doctor stammered, flushing under Apollo's gaze. "No, I didn't know that part of the story."

Apollo paused, smiling to himself. "You know what I find fascinating?" He asked, getting up slowly from the examining table and standing up to his full height. "It's not when people forget. You humans are expected to forget things and you've created marvelous systems to assist you in remembering." His hand grazed the clipboard she was holding. "No," he continued, standing close to her. "It's when a culture forgets, especially a culture that boasts to be the greatest in the world. Somewhere along the way, they start to lose their sense." He was much closer to her now, his neck beginning to curve to the side of her face so that his sweet breath fluttered her hair. "And forget themselves."

His doctor snapped back and put on the most professional of faces. "I beg your pardon, Mr. Apollo. But you're examination is complete and you're perfectly healthy so if you have no further questions, I'll be leaving. Good day." She composed herself and swept out the door, closing it softly behind her and leaving Apollo all alone.

"Aw." Apollo shuffled through the medical tidbits on the table on the opposite side of the small room, pulled out a tongue depressor and popped into his mouth like a blade of grass. "The thrill of the chase."

Apollo had chosen this doctor special, just as he chose all his doctors. Katherine Prescott was the youngest of three and had come from a long line of medical specialists. She had been at the top of her class since she started schooling. She had a flawless record, a spotless reputation, knew everything there was to know about medicine, and had officially been a doctor for just over two years. She was also quite attractive, which was always bonus.

Apollo gave her a day to calm down a bit. He didn't want to scare her off completely. He approached her the next afternoon in the parking lot. A good thing about being a god is that when you don't want to seem sketchy, you don't seem sketchy. "I assume you already know that I'm the god of the sun." Apollo's voice echoed hauntingly across the parking garage and Katherine stopped quickly, clutching her purse.

"And probably that I'm the god of music." His footsteps barely made a sound as he stepped lightly across the concrete to the frozen doctor. "And you just might know that I'm also the god of medicine. Did you know I was the god of medicine?"

Katherine, with her eyes popping out of their sockets, shook her head no.

Apollo breathed a small laugh, stuck his hands in his pockets and leaned, lazily, against Katherine's car. "It's funny because I didn't actually do anything to deserve that title, well… maybe I did a little. You see there was this girl – beautiful girl – whom I loved but who didn't love me. I eventually found out, of course, and the girl got killed."

Katherine stood stock straight and still as Apollo spoke his tale.

"I felt bad, though, so I saved her child and gave it to Chiron, who a lot of great people gave their children to 'cause he's a smart centaur. It was Chiron that taught the boy - Aesculapius was his name - about healing and all that stuff. My boy was actually so good at healing that people built temples for him and brought the ill and injured there to be healed – these were the first hospitals, ya know. There's more to the story, but the point is that I didn't do anything useful. The only claim I really have to healing is the sun, which is still a title I'm kinda borrowing from another god so-" Apollo looked relaxed, perhaps even a bit bashful if that was possible. Katherine began to relax a bit as well. Her grip on her purse was no longer cutting off her circulation.

Apollo got off the car. "I'm sorry if I upset you the other day, but I won't apologize for getting you all flustered."

Katherine stuck out her chin. "I wasn't flustered."

"You weren't?" Apollo laughed his sunbeam of a laugh again. "You know I'm the god of truth too, right? You can't lie to me."

"I'm not lying," was Katherine's curt response.

He bent is neck in close as he had in the office. "You don't feel anything?"

Her breath caught. "No."

Apollo paused, his breath tickling her skin. He kissed her lightly on the neck and pulled back. "It's alright." He said with a sigh on his voice. "I'll forgive you this one time, but you'll have to promise me something."

Katherine nearly crumpled to ground with how relieved she was. "What?"

"You won't forget me?" Apollo's hand was floating near her chin as if he wanted to hold Katherine's face, but he didn't touch her.

After a moment's hesitation, Katherine gave a quick nod, her chin grazing the god's hovering hand. "All right." Her words of agreement slipped out of her mouth.

He gave her another bright smile, his outstretched hand shifting upwards just a bit to skim her jaw line. "And you'll tell me if you don't love me, right?"

This time there was no hesitation, just a small breath. "Right."

Apollo released her from his gaze, turned softly and strolled off across the parking lot. Katherine's eyes did not leave his back until he had completely vanished from sight.

She didn't forget him, not by a long shot. He filled her thoughts as only an affectionate god can. She waited an extra moment before pulling out of the parking lot. She read up on Apollo's myths and researched the health benefits of sunlight with fiery dedication. Some weeks later, an amount of time that must've seemed like a mere instant to an immortal god, she saw his car parked outside her apartment. He greeted her with a light kiss and then they were inside and they were lovers.

Apollo returned to her from time to time. She would tell him what she had learned and he would further instruct her on where to look and what to learn. Soon after she had her child and Apollo was confident she was capable of taking over the roll of teacher, he left – and he left knowing that the child would grow to become a great healer of mankind.

Katherine Prescott raised her child with love and care and her husband was never the wiser.


	7. Best Concert Ever

Children of Apollo

A collection of short stories about Apollo, his lovers, and his children

------------------------------------------------------

_Best Concert Ever_

One fine day, Apollo was whisking through Olympus is his evening best which he wore in his usual casually disheveled, sexy sort of manner. He was arranging his tie when he bumped into Aphrodite. "Hey there, girl."

"Hello there, boy." The words rolled off Aphrodite's tongue like chocolate as she slid up to Apollo - playing to the god's current favorite attitude of sexy and sly - and started fixing his tie. "Where are you off to in such masculine attire?"

Aphrodite's powers of sex appeal didn't have the same effect on gods, but the men most always played along. Apollo smiled his golden smile, showing off the tickets he had stowed away in his breast pocket. "Boston Symphony Orchestra. They've got some wonderful cellist this season."

Aphrodite ran her deft, capable hands down Apollo's tie, eyed the tickets, and pulled back with a disappointed smirk. "Cellist? Now, now, my dear, dear Apollo. Is that the best you can do?"

The twinkle in Aphrodite's eyes spread almost immediately to Apollo's. The god cleared his throat, ran a hand through his soft, sun-kissed hair and stepped up to her slowly, not the least bit capable of hiding his interest. "What did you- uh- have in mind?"

Aphrodite gave him the most luxurious of mischievous grins.

---

Apollo had reserved the whole top floor. He lightly and gracefully descended the stairs after he was settled and walked right up to the hotel's front desk. He held out his key card. "How much to make a copy of this card?"

The man behind the front desk, who stood very tall, glanced at Apollo and at the key card. The god's beauty was undeniable to any man, woman, or child. "Five dollars, sir," the man replied when he remembered he had been asked a question.

Apollo nodded to himself, pretending to be thoughtful. "And how long would that take?"

"Not very long, sir. We'd simply have to reprogram a new card." The man behind the desk was concentrating very hard so that he didn't call Apollo 'Master'.

"Good." Apollo slapped about five hundred dollars on the marble counter. "This should be enough. Give me fifty of them. And can I get a bunch of cards with the hotel's name and address? And could you write my room number on all of them? I'll be back in an hour to pick them up." Apollo flung his coat over his shoulder and strutted out the front door, leaving the man behind the desk in complete and utter shock.

When Apollo returned an hour later, he had Aphrodite on his arm. "Are you ready for a party, my dear?" He asked, handing her half the pile of room keys and cards. "Oh, stop it, Apollo." She flirtatiously tapped her fan against his chest. "You know I'm always ready."

Decency forbids me from filling in too many of the details of what happened that night, but seeing as the number of Apollo's and Aphrodite's demigod children at least doubled after that evening I think it's fair to say that it may have been the best after party ever.

-for the cellists, anyway.


	8. Stealing the Moon

Children of Apollo

A collection of short stories about Apollo, his lovers, and his children

-----------------------------------

_Stealing the Moon_

Long, long ago, in a time when the adventures in our oldest of stories were current events; before the raise of the Roman Empire; before the Byzantine Empire; before the Saxons; before the revolutions; Greece was the center of Western Civilization. It was a world where gods lived in the sky, high on the mountaintops, and they would come down for mere moments in their immortal existence and attend to the people. One of these people that warranted the gods' special attention, be it good or evil, was a talented, but humble hunter named Orion, who was the only man the maiden goddess, Artemis, ever showed favor upon. Artemis' brother, Apollo, however became jealous of Orion and had him killed. Artemis grieved for the loss of her hunting companion and, with her brother's aid, fixed Orion's image in the sky, along with the scorpion that had stung his heel.

Now, souls can be reborn. No matter what faith one believes in, they all allow room for a soul to return to Earth. Orion was reborn, or, at least a man that reminded Artemis very much of Orion.

Many years after the times of our oldest stories, past the fall of empires and well into the triumphant rise of democracy, another such man was born, one that Artemis showed favor on. He was from an ancient family that neither he, nor his parents, nor their parents before them had any knowledge of. He was raised in the middle of nowhere, among the trees, on a small farm with his small family. His mother had come from a line of 'kitchen witches' and had an extensive knowledge of flora, fauna, and homegrown remedies, and his father was a born and raised redneck hunter (and proud of it) and a god-fearing man. They brought him and his sister up right. His sister was a delicate angel, wise and brave, and strong. It was because of her that this man and Artemis were able to meet.

Artemis was considering recruiting Lucille, the man, Matthew's, dear younger sister. Artemis and her huntresses had found her deep in the wilds of the forest and had approved of her, but Lucille turned her down, for she could never live without the company of men if that meant she would have to leave her brother.

Matthew was the greatest of hunters, as great as the huntresses and with the same respect for nature. Had he been female, Artemis would've asked him to join the hunt as well. He was humble and well mannered. When he found his younger sister talking with a small girl in the middle of the woods, he was confused, but polite as possible under the circumstances. He was very hospitable as well, along with his parents, and Artemis stayed close to them and examined them and their self-sufficient way of life, a way that seemed to be mostly lost to that country (except for, perhaps, the Amish and small organic farmers). She grew very fond of the siblings. They reminded her of something.

Artemis' huntresses returned for her several nights later and the goddess left with them, but she returned often to visit the siblings, and eventually she returned just to visit Matthew for he was the hunter. She took different forms and tested his reaction, but each time he spoke to her casually, but respectfully. Artemis would not take her huntresses into the company of men so she eventually chose a form closer to his age and they hunted alone. Matthew held is own as well as any of her huntresses, if not better. They would go out for weeks on hunting trips and chase all manner of prey. Some were wild and some were terrible beasts the likes of nothing Matthew had ever seen before, but he hunted along side the silver girl from the woods and thought nothing off about it, as if he was hunting with his sister. Lucille was young and much preferred her garden and her herbs with her mother, but Matthew often told Artemis of how he missed her during their longer hunter trips and how he wished to show her those deeper paths of the woods.

It was a very pleasant time. For well over a year Artemis frequently returned to Matthew's neck of the woods to visit with his family and hunt with him. Each time Artemis returned the trips grew a little long and a little further from home, to the point where the goddess was considering simply turning Matthew into a female and inviting both him and his sister to the hunt. Perhaps she would've done it, too, if it wasn't then that Apollo discovered them.

Apollo cared for his twin very much, and perhaps he thought he was protecting her virtue that she thought so highly of. Apollo was visiting his then out of commission oracle when he ran in with his sister's huntresses all staying at Camp Half Blood. When he enquired about his sister, he was told that Artemis was looking into a family out in northern Idaho that she had taken particular interest in. Apollo, being the protective brother that he is and having nothing better to do, thanked the huntresses and immediately investigated.

There were a lot of woods in northern Idaho and much of it was federal land, but Apollo didn't worry. He had driven over this part of the country many times and he always had a bit of a sixth sense about where to find his twin.

He was terribly surprised to find his usually cold and pitiless twin, in the form of a young woman, acting content and talking casually and amiably with a young man. They carried a trophy buck between them and were decked out in skins of wolves and coons. Artemis had something that appeared to be a bear coat wrapped around her in the brisk fall weather. They were transporting their latest kill back to their miniature campsite where they skinned it and gutted it, cured, cooked, and dried it together.

Apollo was instantly outraged. Rarely ever had his sister conversed with him like that. Apollo cared for his twin very much and knew that the very first thing she had asked from her father was to be able to be a wild maiden of the hunt forever. He was not going to allow some boy to bring his beloved twin to forget her vow, not for an instant.

Apollo didn't want to kill the vile human there. No, not with Artemis around. He didn't want to cause his dear sister any more pain. So Apollo tracked them, not being void of hunting skills himself, until he discovered that they were heading toward a small house in the middle of nowhere. Apollo was originally planning on waiting until Artemis returned to her huntresses to take his revenge on the boy, but when he saw the young girl in the herb garden behind the house, he had a different idea.

While Artemis and Matthew were still far enough away, music began float out of the woods, into young Lucille's ear. It was beautiful music, a gentle chorus humming a medley that so fit the feeling of the woods that Lucille didn't notice it at first. It called to her, moved her feet for her, and she followed the gentle, enchanting sound away from the house and into the woods. Lucille followed the music to a clearing where she found herself in the presence of a glowing choir all lead by a shining figure with a golden smile and a glowing halo of light about his head. Lucille felt tears in her eyes as the figure of Apollo, in a form somewhat closer to his true form, extended a hand to her. She took it, gladly, completely entranced by his song.

Artemis left Matthew before they returned to the house. She would rejoin with her huntresses, move to warmer climates, and return next spring with her newest proposition if she was still fond of the idea and if they accepted. She was a far distance off when Matthew returned home, unloaded his trophies, and couldn't find his sister.

"Oh, she only went into the back wood," his mother had told him, having seen her wander off herself. "She's off dancing with the fairies. She'll be back by supper." Matthew had enough to put away and reorganize that he did not panic, but when supper came and went and night began to fall, Matthew became awfully worried.

"I'm going to go look for her," he said as he pulled on a coat that had animal skins as patches.

"Be quick about it," his father yawned, sifting through his chewing tobacco. "It's getting hell'a cold at night now."

"Hell isn't cold," was Matthew's reply as he slipped outside and ran into the twilight.

He couldn't find her, not a trace. He followed her tracks to a clearing and then they stopped, vanished, nothing. She had disappeared into thin air. There were scorch marks and strange other tracks of sorts in the clearing that he knew nothing of, but he had seen some strange sights hunting along side Artemis, although she had explained almost none of them. He reasoned that she and those creatures must be connected to this, as he often noticed that when Artemis left him, her tracks, too, would suggest that she vanished into thin air.

Matthew stopped back at his house only once. He slept, ate hearty, and then packed for another hunting mission; this time to find his sister, or possibly his hunting companion who might be able to help.

-

It was months, and during the bitter cold of winter, before Artemis was made aware of her brother's scheme. He didn't reveal it very subtly either. It was after a council gathering of the main Greek pantheon on Mount Olympus as they have from time to time. Artemis was restocking before returning to the hunt when Apollo appeared before her, grinning smugly. She did not return his grin.

"Where were you?" the sun god asked, peering around her temple like a sibling walking into another sibling's room and having to look at, examine, and touch everything. Artemis didn't look up as she inspected the fletching on each and every arrow. "The same place you were."

"Really?" Apollo asked, his hands tracing constellations on the wall. "I was at our Delos." Delos was the name of the island where Artemis and Apollo were born. Their Delos was also their term for their own personal paradise outside of Mount Olympus that traveled with them with Western Civilization.

"Mmhmm," was all Artemis replied. She knew her brother wanted her to ask him about it, but she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction.

"I'm keeping a mortal girl there. Hope you don't mind. Whisked her away from her family."

Artemis didn't care in the least bit, but continued looking over her equipment before carefully folding it away in skins and packing it in a most efficient manner. Apollo leaned back against one of the columns in her temple and watched her work for another minute before she got annoyed with feeling his stare. "Why are you still here?"

Apollo merely smiled back at her, his head tilted to the side and his golden hair falling from his brow. "How's your boy?"

That caught Artemis' attention. "What?"

"Your boy," Apollo explained, getting up from leaning against the column, picking up her bow and stringing it. "The one who was hunting with you earlier." Artemis watched him as he dry fired her bow. "Young fellow. Good hunter. Nice teeth. Big hat."

Realization hit. Artemis snatched the bow from her brother's hands. "What'd you do to him?"

"I didn't do anything to him, for once." Apollo grinned. This had not been the first boy the god had been the ruin of.

Shock swept over Artemis' features as she pieced together little bits of what she had been ignoring. "You stole his sister."

"She came of her own free will," Apollo corrected. "So, technically I didn't steal her."

Artemis had an arrow poised at him the next moment and in her very cold and merciless tone demanded, "Where is he?"

Apollo laughed, but one could tell he was hurt by the threat. "There's no point threatening me, sis. We can't die."

She moved closer with her arrow poised at his throat and enunciated her question again, very slowly. "Where. Is. My boy?"

Apollo sighed and scratched his head. "He's been searching for the girl since the day after you left him."

"Searching." She glanced out the doorway of her temple on Mount Olympus to the see the thick, swirling snow falling on the city below. "In this?" Her incredulous scowl could not taint her ivory face. She stashed her equipment, whipped on her quiver and bow and charged out of the temple.

"Sis! Wait!" Apollo called after her as she ran through the celestial city. "Don't go hunting angry!"

"Damn you, Apollo!" the goddess spat back over her shoulder. "Damn you to the depths of Tartarus!"

Artemis dived into the countryside and did not stop. Her huntresses were soon by her side even though she did not summon them. Apollo had called them for her.

Even if the traveler was walking, given months of time Matthew could've been anywhere. Unfortunately the wild goose chase that Apollo had sent him on had led Matthew north, into the deeper cold of the Canadian forests. Matthew was a great hunter, but even Artemis didn't often bother hunting that far north in the cold.

Artemis did find him and when she found him he was still alive, but not by enough. She was too late. He had been caught in a rockslide just a few hours earlier. His legs were crushed, one arm pinned and he was so numb with the cold, he could barely tilt his head to see her when she arrived. He was half buried alive.

"I found you." His voice came out as a withered wheeze as he forced his diaphragm to move. Artemis went to work. She wrapped him in a skin and promptly ordered her huntresses to move the bounders and rocks off him.

"I'm looking for Lucille," he continued to wheeze.

"Yes, Matthew. We'll find her," was Artemis' quick reply as she rummaged through her bag.

"Take care of her," Matthew wheezed again.

"Yes, Matthew. We'll take care of her." And as she tried to feed him, he died. His soul left him and everything about him that Artemis admired left with him. Starring at the frozen empty shell, she could feel her huntresses fading away on one side of her and her brother appearing on the other.

"He was innocent," the goddess whispered, carefully shutting the boy's eyes. "As innocent as any of my maidens." The icy winter winds played with her hair, taunting her with the fact that she couldn't feel the cold and she had just watched a man die from it. She stood and turned her head slightly as her brother continued to approach. "Why didn't you send a scorpion? I could've handled a scorpion. He could've handled a scorpion. He could've gone down fighting instead of like this: withered away in the cold." Her frown deepened. "What a dismal way to leave the world." She looked upward into the winter night sky. The constellation of Orion was in full view, tall and proud. "Why don't I ever learn?" she asked the sky, her voice filled with bitterness. She then went rigid and swung around to her brother in a glowing rage. "Why don't **YOU** learn?" She growled, menace growing in the back of her throat. "You could've left him alone for half a century, a few decades." She swung her arms in exasperation. "A few years more in our infinite existence and he would've gotten old. He would've withered away and there wouldn't have been all this- this- this-" She was overcome with emotions. They were normal everyday emotions, but she simply was so not use to feeling them that she wasn't sure what to call them. "This!" She finally declared. "Another dead boy. This anger."

"But," Apollo retorted. "**I** would've still been angry." He pointed at himself innocently, but with the most sincere of puppy-dog faces.

She waved an angry, delicate, strong hand at him. "Damn you, Apollo. No one cares what you think." She almost started pacing; her human form antsy with emotional chaos and agitation, but Apollo walked in front of her and wrapped his arms around her. "Damn you, Apollo." She struggled against him in vain. Apollo held strong, and she had little left in her to fight off her twin. "Damn you, brother. Damn you."

He could feel them, warm against his chest.

Tears.

Gods did not feel ashamed to cry when they grieved, but Artemis never grieved. The only times Apollo ever saw his sister cry was when he killed her companions. It was a small sacrifice he wasn't going to tell her he was willing to make to be able to comfort her every once in a long while.

Apollo held his sleek, beautiful older sister is his strong, tanned arms. "Do you still damn me to the depths of Tartarus?" He asked her with a humbled face, but he could never disguise the laugh he always had in his voice.

"No, I don't damn you." Artemis' response held a sigh, like Apollo was a simple child and she should've seen this coming. She could never stay mad at her twin for long.

"Shall we add him to the sky, then?" Apollo asked, looking the frozen body over.

"Let's."

"What shall we add this time?"

Artemis broke off from her brother, now fully recovered, and looked up at Orion's constellation. She had already given him a sword, a shield, and a belt for her last fallen companions. "How about a hat. He always wore the most amusing hats when we went hunting."

The huntresses returned, a pyre was built and when the smoke from Matthew's ashes thinned and the sky could be seen again, Orion was wearing a hat. The constellation is vague enough that it could really be whatever hat one pleases, but if there wasn't so much light pollution, and if mortal's eyes and crude machinery were capable of proper sight, the people on Earth would be able to see a fuzzy cap with large flaps that went over the ears atop Orion's head.

Artemis and Apollo stood and watched the flames flicker and die down till there was little more than warm glowing embers.

"What shall we do about the girl?" Apollo asked.

"You still have her on Delos?" Artemis didn't look up, but kept her eyes on the embers.

"Yes."

"Keep her there," was the goddess' advise. "She can't come back. She can't know this has happened." She glared up at him, which had the same effect of her glaring down on him. "You better take damn good care of her." She put an emphasis on 'damn' and then left with her huntresses with nothing to mark their passing but a pile of ashes.

Apollo did take care of her. Apollo took care of Lucille in her own, special dreamland. She lived in a daze, waited on by nymphs, forever enchanted by their music. She loved him dearly and he paid her many special attentions. She bore him seven children: three of which never left the island, three more died in the battle against the resurrected titans and one, who had been wandering, had been claimed as Apollo had promised and sent to Camp Half Blood after the chaos had ended.

Lucille aged gracefully, lived a long full life with her children, and her opinion of Apollo never dimmed.


	9. Notes

Children of Apollo

_A collection of short stories about Apollo, his lovers, and his children_

-----------------------------------------

Author's notes:

Hello, all my dear readers. Usually I place my commentary in the same chapter as the story itself, but I didn't want to break up the mood of my anthology with commentary, thanks, or notes. I was recently informed that doesn't like note chapters, but I'm hoping that you guys won't begrudge me one. If I didn't have one, I wouldn't have an opportunity to credit my sources or explain what was going on or thank all my lovely people.

-

First off, I'm sorry to say that I've currently run out of ideas for stories about Apollo's kids. I've already written twice as many as I had originally planned and now I don't know what else to write. I might pop up every once in a while and add another story when I think of it, but the nice, quick updates are done. Don't worry too much, though, for I am cooking up another PJatO story thing which will be longer and have a bit more of a plot, I hope. I haven't read the series in a while so I can't promise it'll be as accurate to the series as my fanfics usually are, but I shall certainly try.

-

Secondly. I'd like to thank all my friends and reviewer and friends who reviewed and friends who listened to me rant while I was coming up with these stories. I'll keep writing as many as I have ideas for. You guys are so good to me. As vain as this sounds, sometimes I go back and read all the reviews you wrote me and it makes me want to cry. You people are so special to me and your comments of enjoyment fill me with such happiness, I can barely contain myself. Thank you so much for all your support. You're all wonderful people. You make me wish I had more ideas to give you.

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Thirdly, I'd like to thank the author of Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Rick Riordan. I haven't met him, but I adore the sense of character he creates with dialogue. I attempted to imitate Apollo's character's dialogue. I'm not sure how well I did since I've only read the books once and had returned the books to the library several weeks before I started writing these stories. I think I did better in some stories than others. I'd also like to acknowledge the D'aulaires' Book of Greek Myths. I've studied Greek and Roman mythology a lot when I was younger, but I have since forgot names and details of the myths and that book was a wonderful resource.

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Fourthly, I'd like to comment on the stories themselves. As of right now, I've gotten very few comments on content or anything of the like, simply that it's a good idea and to keep writing. Believe me, no one appreciates these comments more than me. Even though no one asked, however, I still figured I'd tell you what was going through my head. If you don't care, then don't bother reading this section. It's all extra, anyway.

I chose to write about Apollo because he was really the only one worth writing about. Zeus isn't having kids, is not that hot looking and would just pick a pretty girl and sleep with her. Poseidon's in the same boat, but would pick a pretty girl near water or horses or both (and writing about Percy's siblings would be really cheesy). I had an idea for Hades, but when I found out that Rick Riordan made Persephone a total ditz (or a total cold biiznatch), my ideas crumbled. I was hoping that the one woman that Hades ever wanted, enough to piss off all the gods and potentially destroy the world would've been a better person to be around (he also made Hades into a huge jerk). Athena's kids would've been nice, but she's smart and likes smart people so that would've required research, which I'm wasn't going to bother to do with these short stories. Ares would get a fierce, rebellious girl or one he could easily take advantage of. We all know what Aphrodite's story is (she'd practically get pregnant by looking at a dude). Hera and Artemis aren't having kids. Demeter's obnoxious and would just have farmer's kids. Dionysus isn't pretty enough and doesn't have enough kids. Hephaestus I just don't want to write about because Rick Riordan made him into kind of a huge jerk too. And Hermes I really, really like, but I wouldn't want to screw up his stories so I didn't write his. All that left was Apollo, the hot, fun, charismatic one with the lots of kids. Perfect.

I wanted to write enough stories for account for the rough dozen kids I'm saying are in Apollo's cabin before the 5th book. I've got 1 son, then two girls that joined the hunt, then twins (so that's 3), random son is 4, Lauren's kid came after the war, Doctor kid makes 5, then the three from Lucille is 8, and the bunch of random ones from the Orchestra. I'd assume that the rest of Apollo's kids were created in a manner similar to the occurrence in Chapter 4, I just didn't want to write four more tiny chapters about Apollo's one night stands. If you can think of anything else as cute and/or unique as my preexisting stories that I might be able to use as inspiration for another short story, let me know.

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Now onto the stories themselves: The stories turned out a bit quirkier than I originally thought they'd be, but I figured it's because they're about Apollo's romantic escapades, not his musical adventures and successes.

The first story was my first idea and my favorite. It's cute, Apollo's not a scumbag, it's filled with music and kindness and it has a happy ending (none of my stories really have bad ones). Danielle and David had two more kids; a girl and a boy. Judging by my ending, I'd say that Jaren Rose eventually dies in the war. I found Jaren's name on .com. I was trying to find a name that meant something connected with the sun or singing that wasn't really cheesy sounding. Jaren's an English name that means 'singing' so it won. If Danielle had had a girl, there would've been a whole mess of names I could've used like Sunny or Melody or Phoebe, etc. but Danielle had a boy. David let her name her first kid all on her own since it wasn't his.

Story two, Man-Eaters, was originally a story about two daughters of Apollo (trying to act like the same person) that adore Artemis and wanted to be just like her. I wanted to get people staying in Artemis' cabin. I then read the book in the series where we meet Artemis' hunt (the third or fourth one) and I realized I didn't need that story. That story was then blended into my trying to decide if Apollo should pursue an actress or a musician. He got both and got two kids that joined Artemis! Problem solved. The kids are named after Eos, goddess of dawn, sister of Helios and Selene. These three gods sort of vanished in Rick Riordan's books so I used one.

Story three… I don't know. It originally happened because I wanted Artemis to argue with Apollo over something and then force Apollo to get a girl/guy pregnant. It was a gift to all those hermaphrodite cross-dressing transsexuals out there. Then a reread Hermes' story and suddenly he was a player in it and that's what happened (thank you, books). Sharron was attempting (and kind of failing) to break things off with her abusive lover and wasn't doing so hot when Apollo was trying to seduce her. Apollo's sweet and tender consistency eventually won her over, not that Shannon didn't want Apollo the whole time. She's a very proud woman.

Story four = the typical way Apollo becomes a daddy, just switch up the location and the girl's talent from time to time.

Story five, Day Sleeper, was inspired when I was out sun bathing. Inspiration can come from anywhere! It seems a little un-Apollo-like, but I figured that if I explained it really well, pointed out that he never does this, and continued to remind my readers that the gods care very little what they do to the lives of mortals, it wouldn't be so bad. Apollo can have a stupid day. Greek gods act very human like a lot of the time and humans have more than their fair share of stupid days. Lauren's a tough girl, though. I came to really like the idea of Morpheus trying to help by putting the babies to sleep. Oh, and the lizard thing that attacked the kids, but then they accidentally put to sleep was Ladon. Lauren will eventually find love again. I'm thinking that she'll hit it off with another single parent dropping his kid off at half blood hill, like an Athena daddy. I can just picture it:

"You married?"

"No. I was engaged at one point and I figured I should tell her about Sophie's mom, you know? Well, she left and stop answering her phone so that was the end of that."

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah, well, Athena's one heck of a woman to top. Goddess! Goddess to top. Sorry!"

Story six is there because I wanted to use the whole 'god of medicine' thing. Then a read the beginning of MORE cures 'they' don't want you to know about and everything just fell into place. It has a special place in me. I'm sorry it took me so long to write it. I couldn't get the facts and names that I wanted so in the end I kinda had to just throw something together. All the information about Zoloft came offline: .. (and from wikipedia, of course: .org/wiki/Serotonin#Increasing_serotonin_levels).

Story seven was me trying, very much on the fly, to come up with where the rest of Apollo's kids came from. I only had so many stories to tell and I felt that if I didn't explain all of them, I'd feel bad that I didn't come up with thirty odd stories. And this way we get Aphrodite involved. (So I've got Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, and Aphrodite.) I'm sorry it's such a cop out ending, although a part of me still kinda likes it. Aphrodite went after the well-to-dos in the audience and Apollo went after the musically talented people. It's a win win. And I completely made up the costs of the key cards. Sorry I skipped over all the fun parts. It was a random impulse story. (PRACTICE SAFE SEX! USE A CONDOM!)

Story eight came about after rereading the story of Orion. I've wanted to write something concerning Orion for a while and now I have. It's Artemis heavy, but I like her. I like the family. The dad's lived in the same place his whole life. The mom's parents emigrated over from Ireland, had her and she just traveled around until she met the dad and stopped. The dad's a devoted Christian. I wanted to name his son Luke, but it was already taken, so I named him after another Apostle: Matthew. Lucille was named after Luke instead. Orion was originally a giant son of Poseidon. I pretended that each item the constellation has was added for each time Apollo slew the man Artemis showed favor upon. One thing that confuses me about the whole monster reincarnation thing is Rick Riordan's way of picking and choosing which ones reform automatically. The only rule seems to be that if you're ugly, you're evil and you were involved in a Greek myth you can be reborn. It ranges everywhere from kids of titans to kids of queens and bulls. Some of those monsters (giants and cyclopes specifically) are kids of Gods, however: Sons of Poseidon and such and they come back. Cyclopes come back. That should mean that even Percy's brother should eventually reform if he ever dies. And if that's the case, why can't the gods' other kids reform when slain? The Minotaur wasn't created by a god at all. Why does that get to reform and not the demi-gods? Why, Rick? Why? I also don't know anything about Idaho, it just looked like it had good woods.

Plot holes, aside. That's the reasoning and extra things I didn't write to my stories. Please let me know if you have any more questions and have a wonderful life.


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